AS ST. ETIENNE vs. LYON

OCTOBER 31, 2009
Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, St. Etienne
4PM ET (21:00 CET, 20:00 GMT)

Saturday, OL make their descent into Le Chaudron – and you can believe it will be hot- aka Stade Geoffroy-Guichard to kick-off the only derby that really matters. No matter what form Grenoble are in- and they are atrocious this year- this is the only derby that counts- just keepin it real. Sorry Grenoble fans. In fact, Lyon-St. Etienne is one of the most traditional affairs in the league, and it is one of the three most anticipated matches in L1, the only other traditional matches that are as highly anticipated and intensity-filled being Lille-Lens and the Clasico.

Both squads will be looking for points: OL to try to gain ground on second place Monaco, and first place Bordeaux, and St. Etienne to put some room between them and the drop. Although both of the teams come into the match trying to rebound from recent lows in the form of mini-losing streaks, injury worries which are also a concern and Lyon has the added distraction of having an eye trained on the upcoming Liverpool later in midweek. All that really may matter little in a competion of this magnitude. In fact, if it weren’t that this is an emotional clash for both teams and the fact that both teams have other tangible motivations for a victory, then I’d actually be a little frightened due to OL’s recent bipolar displays in the league matches straddling the last Liverpool game. The fact that Le Verts have alot to play for, coupled with the fact that most teams get fired-up when they get a chance to kick OL in the shins, makes for a bad recipe, but I think this emotionally charged match is just what the doctor ordered in term’s of lifting Lyon’s spirits and injecting them with desire to get back to winning after post-Anfield hangover.

History: This will be the 98th meeting between the two clubs. Lyon haven’t lost since ‘94 and since then, it’s been a series of relatively tight matches. Lyon are 8-12-23 against ASSE. Six of the last nine matches have ended in draws, with an average of one goal deciding the victories, all won by OL of course. The last “blowout” would be St. Etienne’s last victory in ‘94 that ended 3-0.

Out for Blood: The derby in and of itself is an occasion that normaly infuses all players and staff on both sides, with ex-Lyon and ex-St. Etienne players on either side of the ball. This year promises to be no different, with several players and staff who have special stakes vested in the match.

Saturday’s match will be the second derby for ex-Lyon coach Alain Perrin, having lost his first outing at the end of last season 1-0 at home. So rest assured he will be looking to even-up his record.

Even newcomer Michel Bastos has some bad blood between he and St. Etienne full back Jeremy Varault, that stems from his days at Lille.

Jeremy Janot and his rabid anti-Lyon antics are well known, but perhaps the most intruiging situation in this derby will obviously be Bafetimbi Gomis returning to face his former team for the first time, and in the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, now enemy territory, no less. Bafe had a down season last year, and one that saw the Stefanois faithful turn on him to some degree. Gomis will certainly feel the full wrath of the fans come down on him in the form of boos and jeering after having run out of town and into the arms of their much hated rival no less. Bafe’s ubiquitous kissing of the OL insignia and making the “OL” signs with his fingers after scoring goals this season, a show of loyalty to his new club, surely has not gone unnoticed nor needless to say gone over well with the St. Etienne faithful. Hopefully, La Panthere will pull a “Loic Remy” and wreak havoc on his former team.

Don’t forget to check-out the St. Etienne blog that’s up and running now. Check out Benj’s preview.

St. Etienne’s Form: Les Stephanois are currently going through a two match losing streak, having dropped two of their last six. They are sitting slightly above the precipice of the drop in 16th place with a 3-1-6 record. They are 16th at home with just (2) two wins. Their defense is 13th with (14) goals allowed and their offense is 17th with (9) scored.

Offensively, their leading goal scorer is Argentine striker Gonazalo Bergessio with (3) three. Their other four goals are spread out amoungst four other players with one a piece.

They began the season with a three game losing streak, falling to Nice, Toulouse, and Boulougne- which happend to be in form. Aside from maybe two losses, they’ve lost to respectable teams and/or to teams that were in form at the time, and usually by very slim margins.

They’ve taken down Monaco and Bordeaux- a match which I watched, and “dismantled” is a more apt word to describe what they did to Les Girondins- amoungst their exploits in the win column.

Les Verts are going through a mini-injury disaster of their own, that probably has led to their dropping some points recently. Oft Lyon transfer target Mouhamadou Dabo is out, as is Moustapha Bayal Sall, as well as ex-OL defender Sylvain Monsoreau, Boubacar Sanogo and team captain Loic Perrin.

Injuries: Cleber, Boumsong, Bodmer, Seguin, Faure, and to add to the list of the plague of adductor injuries this week is Cissokho, who is a maybe. Delgado and Lisandro missed training on Thursday and have been training lightly around their adductor injuries, but are good-to-go. Kallstrom is back from his muscle problem and in an early Christmas gift, Lloris is back to send the opposition’s 12th man, Remy Vercoutre, back to the bench.

Le groupe lyonnais : Lloris, Vercoutre; Cris, Réveillère, Clerc, Cissokho, Kolodziejczak, Toulalan, Gonalons, Makoun, Källström, Pjanic, Bastos, Delgado, Ederson, Govou, Tafer, Gomis, Lisandro.

Starting Formation: Who knows. Puel mostly defies logic with his selections, but here’s my newest best guess: Lisandro played the whole match last week as did Govou and Pjanic. I’m guessing Lilo comes off the bench while Govou and Pjanic start. I thought Reveillere might be rested last week, but with Cissokho being injured, and Puel possibly not risking Aly before the Liverpool match, we could see either AR, Bastos, or maybe even Kallstrom at LB.

Lloris
Clerc-Cris -Toulalan-Revelliere
Gonalons-Makoun
Bastos-Pjanic-Govou
Gomis

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Category: Ligue 1, Team News and Rumors